Gas-burning apparatus.



c. ELL|S.. GAS BURNING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 3 l9l2- RENEWED JUNE 28, 1917- 1,256,301. Patented Feb. 12,1918.

WITNESSES m INVENTOR m W.

g. y MW ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT oF roE.

CARLETON ELLIS, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO SURFACE COMBUSTION, INCL, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

GAS-BURNING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

I Application filed May 8, 1912, Serial No. 695,925. I Renewed June 28, 1917. V Serial No. 171,596.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARLE'roN ELLIS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Montclair, Essex county, New Jersey,- have made certain new and useful Inventions Relating to Gas-Burning Apparatus, of which the following is a specification,

' taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which forms part of the same.

This invention relates to apparatus for burning explosive gaseous mixtures which com rises a porous and permeable bed 'or diap ragm of refractory material into which the explosive gaseous mixture is fed so as to burn at or near the outer surface of the bed or diaphragm and maintain said outer surface in a state of incandescence. The outer portion ,or surface layer of the diaphragm may be coated with or formed of rare earth actinic. material so as topromote the luminosity thereof and make the apparatus thereby more effective. for lighting purposes The invention aims to pro- W e apparatus of this character in which the localization of the combustion within the desired portion of the diaphragm is I maintained by preventing the inner portion of the diaphragm or bed from becoming too highly heated. For this purpose, the diaphragms or beds in accordance with the present invention are formed with cooling passages extending through the inner or rear portion thereof, through which passa es a cooling fluid, which is most desirab y the air to be used in formin the exlosive mixture, is caused to pass. y caus- 1n the air used in forming the explosive mlxture to pass through the cooling passa es of the bed, the desired cooling of the bec l is effected and at thesame time a preheating of the air used in the mixture is secured with resulting increase in heat at the combustion zone.

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way several illustrative embodiments ,of this invention,

Figure 1 is a vertical section of one form of apparatus.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail showin a portion of the diaphragm; and

ig. 3 is a section showing another form of apparatus.

This apparatus may be in theform of a portable convertible lamp and heater and may be supplied with gas under the desired pressure in any suitable wayv As'shown in Fig. 1,'the casing 1 of iron or other suitable metal or material may have mounted therein the porous refractory diaphragm 2 formed of substantially uniform sized granules of fire clay or other suitable refractory material which may conveniently be made coherent as by calcination after coating the granules with a relatively small proportion of suitable fluxing material. It is-also de-- sirable to have the outer or surface layer 3 of the diaphragm formed of granules composed of or coated with suitable actinic material comprising such rare earth oxids as cerium, thorium, yttrium oxids or the like which may be readily applied in the form of a coating to the outer layer or'portion of the diaphragm, preferably before calcination of the molded diaphragm material. In the form indicated in Fig. 1 the diaphragm is also formed with suitable cooling passages in which suitable'coolin air pipes i may be arranged if desired and these air pipes may be conveniently formed of thin wrought iron or the like and embedded iu the diaphragm material during the calcmation pbrocess in. which case the diaphragm may e mounted so as to bring these cooling pipes 4 into alinement with suitable apertures in the casing. If desired, however, these cooling passages may be molded in the diaphragm material and provided with any suitable impervious lining such as an enamel, vitreous or fluxing coatat such pressure as to carry therethrough' suflicient air to form an explosive mixture within the chamber containing substantially the proportions of air required for complete combustion. The air may be admitted to suitable openings such as 10 controlled by a rotary or other damper 11 regulating the amount of induced air'so as to secure the desired explosive mixture when the gas valve 8 is turned on so as to allow gas supplied through the flexible gas pipe 9, for instance, to be delivered from the injecting nozzle 7. In this way the gas preferably issuing under a pressure of a pound 5 or so can readily induce sufficient air to form the explosive mixture within the gas chamber and feed it forward through the highly poro'usdiaphragm, a pressure in the chamber of a fraction of an inch of water being sufficient for this purpose when the diachamber 13 communicating with one end of the cooling pipes 4: so as to allow the air therefromto be drawn by the injecting jet into the throat and communicating gas .chamber. In this way the inner portions of the diaphragm are more effectively cooled and the zone of intense surface combustion more definitely located in the outer diaphra gm layer.

Under normal conditions the explosive gaseous mixture burns with h ghly accelerated surface combustion within the outer portionof the diaphragm, heating the granules to bright redness or incandescence so as to give considerable light in this way. If desired, however, this convert ble burner may be supplied With a somewhat larger 40 amount of gas so that combustion largely occurs within the extreme outer layers of the diaphragm and to some slight extent in the form of blue flame combustion in the interstices of the outer layer so as to intensely heat the exposed outer portion of the diaphragm and render highly luminous the surface granules coated with the rare earth actinic material used for this purpose. The cooling devices are of special utility under these circumstances since they are of course preferably so disposed as to absorb from the inner portion of the diaphragm any excess of heat which tends to develop therein in case of any incipient creeping back of the zone of combustion so that the combustion is definitely localized in the surface layer of the diaphragm where the maximum actinic effect is produced. It is of course understoodthat diaphragmsof this character may be mountedin any suitable wav and as indicated the diaphragm is adjustably mounted on a suitable portable support, the bracket 14 on the casing having hinged connection with the standard Iii-connected to the base 16. By tightening the screwl? the device may berigidly held in position and may be angularly adjusted to the desired extent on loosening this screw. A simpler form of convertible apparatus is shown in Fig. 3 as comprising the casing 18 within which the diaphragm 2 having a similar surface layer 3 in which the particles are suitably coated with rare earth actinic material. The injecting pipe 19 may be connected in any desired way with the casing and maybe provided with thegas pipe 20 and air pipe 21 through which the air and gas may be forced under suitable pressure so as to mix and form the desired explosive mixture and inject the same into the casing for intense surface combustion in the outer diaphragm layer. This injecting pipe may of course serve to support the easing and diaphragm at a suitable distance from the wall of a room, for instance.

Having described this invention in con nection with a number of illustrative embodiments, forms, proportions, parts, materials and arrangements, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be .limited, what is claimed as new and What is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

-1. In heating and lighting apparatus, a. casing, a porous refractory diaphragm mounted in said casing and formed of united porous granules of substantially uniform size, the surface layer granules being coated with rare earth actin c material to promote their luminosity, cooling air pipes forming cooling passages through said diaphragm, a gas chamber formed in'said casing behind said diaphragm, a throat communicating with said gas chamber and with the outs de air, an injecting gas nozzle cooperating with said throat to inject a mixture of gas and induced air into the same and force the re sulting explosive mixture through said diaporous granules, the surface layer granules being coated with rare earth actinic mate- 'rial to promote their luminosity, cooling passages through said diaphragm, a gas chamber formed in said casing behind said diaphragm, a throat communicating with said gas chamber, an injecting gas nozzle cooperating with said throat to inject a mixture of gas and lnduced air into the same and force the res'ulting explosive mixture municating with said cooling passages and with said throat to allow said in ecting noztzle'to draw air therethrough and coolthe inner portions oftsaid diaphragm.

3. In heating and lighting apparatus, a

casing, 'a porous refractory diaphragm a mounted in said casing and formed of united porous granules, the surface layer granules carrying rare earth actinic material to promote their luminosity, cooling passages through sa1d diaphragm, .a gas chamber formed m said casing and communicating with said diaphragm, an air chamber communicating with said cooling passages, and

means for supplying to said gas chamber an explosive gaseous mixture of gas from a suitable source of supply and air from said air chamber under suflioientpressure to force the mixture through said diaphragm to burn therein and to maintain said actinic. granules in incandescent highly luminous condition, the air drawn from said .air

' ing passages.

A. In heating apparatus, a casing, .a porous refractory dlaphra supported by said-casing and formed of united porous refractory granules, coolin passages through said diaphragm a gas c amber formed in d communicating with said diaphragm, injecting means comprising a throat and a gas nozzle cooperating to inject a mixture of gas and induced .air into said casin and force the resulting explosive mixture t rough said diaphragm to burn chamber being supplied through said cool-- within the surface layer thereof, and an air chamber communicating with said cooling assages and with sa1d.throat to allow sald injecting nozzle to draw air therethrough and cool the imier portions of said diaphragm.

5. In a heating apparatus, a casing, a porous refractory diaphragm supported by said casing, cooling passages through said diaphragm, a gas chamber formed in said casing and communicating with said diaphragm, an air chamber communicating with said cooling passages, and means for injecting into said gas chamber an explosive mixture of gas and of air drawn from said air chamber and to force said mixture through said diaphragm to burn within tho surface layer thereof.

6. In heating apparatus, a casing, a porous refractory diaphragm supported by said casing, cooling passages through said diaphragm, a gas chamber formed in said casmg and communicating with said diaphragm, and means to inject a mixture of gas and induced air into the same and force the resulting explosive mixture through said diaphragm to burn within the surface layer thereof.

7. Heating ap aratus comprising a porous and permeable ed of refractory material having cooling passa es extending therethrough, and means for forcing into said bed an explosive mixture of gas and of air idrawn through said cooling passages to cause said explosive mixture to burn within Witnesses:

- HARRY L. DUNCAN,

Jnssm B.'KAY. 

